Bernard Francis Law

Bernard Francis Law (4 November 1931-20 December 2017) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Boston from 1984 to 2002, succeeding Humberto Sousa Medeiros and preceding Sean O'Malley. He resigned as Archbishop as the result of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, which he had ignored.

Biography
Bernard Francis Law was born in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico on 4 November 1931, and he attended school in both the United States and Colombia. He graduated from Harvard College, Saint Joseph Seminary College, and the Pontifical College Josephinum, becoming an ordained Catholic priest in 1961. Law supported the Civil Rights movement, and Medgar Evers' brother said that he acted "not for the Negro, but for justice and what is right." From 1973 to 1984, he served as Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, succeeding William Wakefield Baum and preceding John Joseph Leibrecht. In 1984, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Boston; in 1985, he became a member of the College of Cardinals. Law was involved in covering up child molestation by predatory priests, and he was forced to resign in 2002 as the result of these allegations being published by the news. He was granted a powerless position as Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 2004, serving until his retirement in 2010. He died in Rome in 2017 at the age of 86.